


Return to the Enchanted Forest

by MiaWritesFanFics



Series: When we ran [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - The Enchanted Forest (Once Upon a Time), F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 21:28:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29565420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiaWritesFanFics/pseuds/MiaWritesFanFics
Summary: What happens when some strange people turn up in Alice Jones' town?
Relationships: Captain Hook | Killian Jones/Emma Swan, Prince Charming | David Nolan/Snow White | Mary Margaret Blanchard
Series: When we ran [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2014732
Kudos: 4





	Return to the Enchanted Forest

**Author's Note:**

> This is a second part of The Story That Almost Was. However, it does make sense if you don't read that first. A double line means a jump forward in time. 
> 
> Thank you for reading this. I hope you like it. I love your feedback.

Staring at one of the posters on the office walls, Alice tried to forget where she was; sat by the Principal’s office, just waiting for her mother. Jamie’s father had already come and gone, but Mom was working today, and there was no way she could leave early again. Most likely, Alice would have to wait in the office till the end of the school day, before being let out because her mother never arrived.

Her mother had to work so the family could eat; Alice understood that. Killian, her father, was a sailor by trade, meaning he spent weeks in the open sea, hours from any way to communicate with them. Emma (or as everyone called her, Swan) had to work so their large family could have the life she thought they deserved, although that did often mean going way too overboard. Killian got paid enough, but Emma had to work so they could live comfortably, not off the minimum wages that the shipping companies paid. This meant that Alice sometimes had to babysit her 2 younger siblings when her mother was working, or just generally help her with the things Killian would do if he were here. At age 12, Alice was the man of the family, and she was a girl.

Alice Jones came home from school and flung her bag down by the door, her heavy backpack hitting the floor and spilling open. She tried to stuff all of her books back into the black studded bag so she could escape upstairs. After being called to the Principal’s office again for hurting some kid, she just wants to slip away into her own space.

‘It wasn’t my fault,’ she says as her mother approaches her, ‘I didn’t even touch James.’

‘I believe you,’ she said in her soothing and motherly tone. ‘Go to your room until Davy and Livy get off school.’

Alice walked upstairs, banging her feet heavily for the effect. She turned the corner and reached her bedroom – or the one she shared with a sister who was 7 years younger. Before heading into her room, she crept down the hall and into the small room at the end of the corridor to see her youngest brother.

August was lying in his crib, sleeping soundly. He was always there to comfort Alice (or Ali as he called her) and he would never stop loving her. She was close with all her siblings but had to act in both the roles of sister, and occasionally mother.

Then, she just needed to look at her tiny brother’s adorable face as he slept to remind her of what was important.

On the following Sunday, Alice ran through the crowds at the docks, swerving in and out, to see who (or what) had arrived. Closely followed by her younger brother and sister, she reached the front of the crowd, and looked around in disbelief. There was a huge ship, with masts that reached the heavens; it looked like it belonged with the boats her father cleaned up on the other side of the dock. But none of her father’s new boats ever bought a crowd like this one.

Looking around, she saw two men, dressed entirely in white, wearing ridiculous helmets with feathers billowing from the top. Following them walked a couple dressed like characters in a Disney movie; they looked arrogant with their heads held high, barely acknowledging the people below. Alice had seen people like that before when she visited New York, or when a particularly avid group of reenactors wanted to borrow a boat.

Then, two more of the white guards walked out onto the deck and down the gangplank. They were dragging someone: someone in chains! Impulsively, Alice ran out in front of the crowd and towards the majestic couple.

‘Let that man go,’ she said, ‘He clearly doesn’t want to be there, and by trapping him like that, you are infringing on his human rights.’ She stood there determinedly, looking rather proud of herself for standing up to this injustice.

‘Starfish, just let it go,’ a voice yelled out. Alice immediately recognised it.

‘Papa!’ she cried, running towards the white guards before realising that was a terrible idea; they had swords, an unusual choice of weapon, but a weapon, nonetheless.

‘This man is your father?’ The posh lady asked. Even the way she spoke reflected her way of dress. Although she had an American accent, this woman, with long, black hair and an ivory gown, seemed like a foreigner.

‘What’s it to you?’ she responded, her father taught her it was never good to speak to people you didn’t know or tell them anything about yourself at all.

‘Do you happen to have a mother called Emma?’ she asked. Alice kept her mouth shut and motioned to her siblings to do the same.

‘Her mother’s called Swan,’ one of the boys in the crowd said, mocking the woman’s strange choice of words, and her mother’s name.

‘That’s a rather strange name. Where did she get that from?’ The lady asked

‘I don’t know,’ Alice replied, ‘That’s just what everyone calls her’

‘Tell you what,’ now the strange man spoke, ‘if you will take us to your house, we will free your father.’

‘That sounds a lot like blackmail.’

‘Nonsense. Just take me to your house and I’ll let you be.’ Alice could just make out her father shaking his head; she knew he would give his life to save this family, but she didn’t want him to have to. She grabbed her little brother August’s hand, and beckoned her sister Olivia to follow. The white guards followed them, and the crowds parted to let Alice and her siblings through.

It usually only took three minutes to get from the docks to the Jones house, but Alice decided it was best not to ask these strange people to climb under a fence and walk across a tree branch. Instead, Olivia broke away from the group and, while Alice led the strange collection of people through the streets of the rather confusing town, Livy was already home, warning her mother about the strange visitors and their request.

Alice grabbed hold of Davy’s hand and held him close, walking silently through the twists and turns of Storybrooke. The strange man and woman followed them, walking with an air of regality about them. They definitely were posh. Alice didn’t like to stand out (she got teased enough already) and was followed by two people acting like they were kings and 2 men in white. They still hadn’t released her father, after leaving him on the boat. She just hoped they held up their end of the deal.

‘Here we are,’ Alice said as she opened the gate into the flat block where her family resided. She walked through the small yard in the front, which was empty, and took the key out of her jacket pocket. She put it in the lock and twisted it slowly, delaying their arrival at her home for as long as possible.

Alice led Davy upstairs, hoping that Livy had arrived home before them to warn Mom. She checked behind her and, sure enough, the strange people were still following, only a step behind. Alice picked the next key off her ring and turned it in the lock. Slowly, she twisted the door handle and pushed it open. 

‘Mom, I’m home,’ she called out into the silent room beyond. She wasn’t quite sure what to say next. Hey. There are strange people who want to talk to you. They’re holding Papa hostage until you do. Luckily, she didn’t have to say anything because Mom came round the corner. She was never usually stuck for words, but in that moment she was.

Suddenly she spoke, with a tone of anger and questioning in her voice:

‘Mom?’


End file.
